How to Create Telegram Stickers: A Complete Guide

Telegram stickers are one of the platform's most expressive features — custom image packs you can send in any chat to react, joke around, or build a visual identity. Unlike emoji, stickers are full-size images with transparent backgrounds, and Telegram gives every user the tools to create and publish their own packs for free. The process is more hands-on than most social media platforms, but it's entirely manageable once you understand what's involved.

What Are Telegram Stickers, Exactly?

Telegram supports several sticker formats:

• Static stickers — PNG images with transparent backgrounds
• Animated stickers — vector-based animations in the .TGS format (Telegram's own format, based on Lottie)
• Video stickers — looping .WEBM videos with transparency

Each format has different technical requirements and creation tools. The right format for you depends on your design skill level, the tools you have available, and the kind of expression you're going for.

The Technical Requirements Before You Start 🎨

Getting the file specs right is non-negotiable. Telegram's @Stickers bot (the official tool for submitting packs) will reject files that don't meet specifications.

For static stickers, the background must be fully transparent — not white, not filled. The image should have at least one side at exactly 512 pixels, and the other side no larger than 512 pixels.

For animated stickers, .TGS is not the same as a standard GIF or video — it's a compressed Lottie JSON file. You'll need specific software to produce it correctly.

Step-by-Step: Creating Static Stickers

Static stickers are the most accessible format to start with.

1. Create or Source Your Artwork

Design your image in any tool that supports transparent PNG export — Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, GIMP (free), Affinity Designer, Procreate (iPad), or even Canva with a transparency-capable plan.

Keep the subject centered and make sure nothing important is cut off near the edges. Stickers are displayed at relatively small sizes in chats, so bold lines and strong contrast read better than fine detail.

2. Export as PNG with Transparency

Export your file at exactly 512×512 pixels (or with one dimension at 512 px and the other shorter). Save as PNG — not JPG, not WebP. Confirm the background layer is removed or set to transparent before exporting.

3. Use @Stickers Bot on Telegram

Open Telegram and search for @Stickers — this is Telegram's official bot for creating and managing sticker packs.

Send /newpack to start a new pack. The bot will walk you through:

• Naming your pack
• Uploading your sticker images one by one
• Assigning an emoji to each sticker (this determines what suggestions appear when users type)
• Publishing the pack with a unique link

Once published, your pack gets a shareable t.me/addstickers/ link that anyone can use to add it to their Telegram.

Step-by-Step: Creating Animated Stickers

Animated stickers have a steeper learning curve because of the .TGS format requirement.

The primary tool Telegram recommends is Adobe After Effects with the Bodymovin plugin, which exports animations as Lottie JSON files. You then compress that JSON into the .TGS format using a command-line tool or third-party converter.

Some alternatives:

• Telegram's own Animated Sticker Editor (available in some versions of the app) allows basic animations without external software
• Rive and LottieFiles support Lottie-based workflows that can be adapted
• Third-party apps like TeleSticker or Mango Sticker Maker simplify the process but with less creative control

The 64 KB file size limit for animated stickers is strict and often requires significant optimization — reducing frame count, simplifying paths, or lowering animation duration.

Step-by-Step: Creating Video Stickers

Video stickers use the WebM format with VP9 encoding and an alpha (transparency) channel. This is the trickiest format to produce correctly because not all video editors support VP9 alpha export natively.

Tools that can handle this include FFmpeg (command-line), Adobe Premiere with the right export settings, or DaVinci Resolve. The video must be no longer than 3 seconds, loop cleanly, and stay under 256 KB.

Use /newvideopack in the @Stickers bot to start a video sticker pack rather than a static one.

Variables That Affect Your Experience 🛠️

The process looks straightforward on paper, but several factors shape how smooth it actually goes:

Design tool familiarity — If you already use Photoshop or Procreate regularly, static stickers are genuinely quick to produce. If you're starting from scratch with image editing, expect a learning curve around transparency and export settings.

Animation experience — Animated stickers sit firmly in motion design territory. After Effects and Lottie aren't beginner tools. Workarounds exist, but the quality ceiling is much higher for users who already know these workflows.

Device and platform — The @Stickers bot works on desktop and mobile Telegram. However, some third-party sticker creation apps are mobile-only, while tools like After Effects require a capable desktop machine.

File size constraints — Static stickers are forgiving. Animated and video stickers require active optimization, which adds time and technical steps that vary depending on the complexity of your artwork.

Pack size — Each pack requires a minimum of one sticker and supports up to 120. Managing a large pack — editing, reordering, or replacing stickers — is done through the same @Stickers bot using commands like /addsticker, /delsticker, and /ordersticker.

The Part That Differs by User

The mechanics of submitting stickers are the same for everyone. What changes significantly is the creation step — because the effort, tools, and skill involved look completely different depending on whether you're exporting a PNG from Procreate, building a Lottie animation in After Effects, or encoding a transparent WebM with FFmpeg.

Your existing tools, your design background, and which sticker format fits your creative idea are the variables that turn this from a ten-minute task into a multi-hour project — or vice versa.